Rising Song Records is excited to share the first single from Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe's forthcoming album Ruach Neshama. This collection of original songs celebrating the connection between music, nature, and Jewish wisdom will be available on digital platforms everywhere on Rosh Chodesh Elul (August 9, 2021).

Contribute to Ariel's crowdfunding campaign to get early access to the whole collection while directly supporting the talented artists who made this beautiful music: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/rabbi-ariel-root-wolpe-s-rising-song-record#/

Listen to this single and the title track, "Ruach Neshama," on Bandcamp: https://arielrootwolpe.bandcamp.com/

All music composed by Ariel Root Wolpe, Hebrew text from Jewish liturgy and Tanakh.
Music direction by Joey Weisenberg and Ariel Root Wolpe
Harmony direction by Deborah Sacks Mintz
Produced by Joey Weisenberg

Recorded outside and in home-studios in Atlanta, GA, Philadelphia, PA, and Berkeley, CA.
Engineered by Joey Weisenberg and Jon Mitchell
Mixed and Mastered by Don Godwin
Artwork and Layout by Sol Yael Weiss.

Singers and Musicians:
Ariel Root Wolpe - lead vocals, acoustic guitar
Kendra Root Wolpe - vocals
Deborah Sacks Mintz - vocals
Valerie Root Wolpe - vocals
Jon Mitchell - vocals, djembe
Joey Weisenberg - bass, percussion, guitar, baritone ukulele, piccolo, drum programming, vocals
Will Robertson - bass
Eliyahu Sills - flute
Rising Song Institute Vocalists: Rena Branson, Rebekka Goldsmith, Eitan Kantor, Gedalia Penner, Sam Tygiel, Batya Levine, Gayanne Geurin

www.arielwolpe.com
www.risingsong.org

A Project of Hadar's Rising Song Institute: Cultivating Jewish spiritual life through song.

Ruach Neshama

Waking Up Nigun

Waking Up Nigun - Rabbi Ariel Root Wolpe

The danger of ignoring obvious historical parallels to unfolding events is the prospect of repeating them.

Just Like the Nazis Did

“Leve Palestina” (“Long Live Palestine”) was written in 1975 by Nazareth-born artist George Totari. After migrating to Sweden from Palestine following the 1967 war, and soon finding that anti-Palestinian racism made it impossible for him to work at a university, Totari concluded that the best way to teach the world about the history and plight of his beloved Palestinian people was through music. Along with other Palestinian immigrants in Gothenburg and a few Swedish allies, Totari formed the solidarity band Kofia, a group which remains active today despite decades of political censorship and repression. Totari explains the purpose of the group in simple terms: “I started Kofia in order to tell the people the story of my country.”

The song has since become one of the most popular anthems of the Palestinian resistance movement worldwide. It has been translated into Arabic, remixed into countless electronic versions, and adapted for a wide range of progressive causes.

We at Songs for Ceasefire are honored to have worked with George Totari in bringing this English version of the song to the movement to help meet this crucial moment in the history of the Palestinian struggle and the history of the world. We are bearing witness to a genocide unfolding in real time across our screens while the governments of the world appear unable or unwilling to stop it. At the same time, the majority of people around the globe are rising up in solidarity with the people of Palestine, recognizing in their cause a common struggle for freedom and dignity for all humanity. It is a moment when, as Totari wrote in this song nearly 50 years ago, “all the world will come to bear witness.” 

We are a group of musicians, singers, and cultural workers from many faiths and communities based in Chicago, IL, USA, working for a ceasefire and a free Palestine. Like Kofia, we are a solidarity musical project that grew out of the urgent need to harness the power of music to uplift the movement to stop the genocide of the Palestinian people, end the illegal occupation, and dismantle the Zionist apartheid state. 

We offer our version of the song in the same spirit as the original by Kofia: an act of musical solidarity to amplify the long-silenced cry of the people of Palestine for freedom, homeland, and self-determination. We sing this song to interrupt the silence. We sing because our souls demand that we speak loudly and with moral clarity, having heard the cries of the oppressed. We sing for a free Palestine, for freedom for all lands and all peoples. We offer this song to you to learn and to teach, to sing and to share on the streets, on stages, on social media, in your car, in jail cells, in the offices of your elected officials, and wherever the sound of our resistance needs to be heard. May it spread in a wave of joyful resistance to tyranny and fascism in all forms, like poppies across a wild countryside racked from bombs. Thank you for listening, for sharing, and for bringing this energy into every space where silence must be interrupted. 

Long live Palestine, Abolish Zionism!

Follow us: 
* On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/songsforceasefire/
* On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SongsforCeasefire
* On Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/songs-for-ceasefire

“Leve Palestina”
Song by George Totari © 1975
Originally recorded by Kofia

“Leve Palestina (Long Live Palestine)”
English adaptation by Adam Gottlieb
Recorded and produced by Adam Gottlieb and Songs for Ceasefire
At StarRise Studios (on Potawotomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe land)

Vocals: Adam Gottlieb, Leah Shoshanah, Ethan Aronson, Patrick Baranovskis, Deborah Adelman, Dan Eberhart, jireh l. Drake, Joseph Ozment
Guitar: Adam Gottlieb
Darbuka: Kai Movagh  
Bass: Patrick Baranovskis
Percussion: Adam Gottlieb
Artwork by Mouna K

Leve Palestina (Long Live Palestine)

From Chicago to Gaza, echoing with voices around the world, this is our version of "Ceasefire Now" by Sol Weiss and Ilana Lerman, adapted with new lyrics by Adam Gottlieb.

Sol Weiss writes about the original song on their SoundCloud: "Little Song is a nigun (wordless melody) that is a soft, simple call and response / echo song that has often served as a way to sing out messages or add in words. This version was born when Ilana Lerman was driving to Washington DC to lead a songleader training at an IfNotNow action along with me and a powerful team of many songleaders, where she put the movement's messaging and demands to this tune. Since then, more of us have added words, the song growing every time. This melody is a powerful vehicle for sharing a message and grounding in our hearts. With these words, we hope the song can both be a gentle support to all of us in times of devastation and a strong loud voice in calling out for an end to the war. With our prayers for healing this broken world and bridging the distance between us that can feel so cavernous, for grieving the terror of violence and oppression and a world that makes us believe they are necessary, for finding our way through together — we call for a ceasefire now: protect lives on all sides, end the siege on Gaza."

Take action: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/take-action/#act-now

Adam Gottlieb: vocals, guitar, production 
Vocals: Deborah Adelman, Patrick Baranovskis, Emily Heitzman, Eli Newell, Milo Parker, Aliah Robinson, Leah Shoshanah, RK

Recorded at StarRise studios on Potawatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe land.
Artwork by Maya Kosover with photography by Sarah-Ji Rhee.

Follow Sol Weiss:
Instagram: @sol_weiss_
https://soundcloud.com/sol-yael

Follow Ilana Lerman
Instagram: @pluot_sky
https://soundcloud.com/chupah_tracks

Songs for Ceasefire is a project by a group of musicians, singers, & cultural workers from many faiths & communities working for ceasefire and a free Palestine. We are an emergent volunteer community music collective formed by Jewish and allied activists, singers, and cultural workers in the Palestinian solidarity movement in Chicago. We use music as a tool for bringing people together in the struggle; for healing, prayer, and uplifting spirits; for amplifying  urgent stories, truths, and calls to action; and for strengthening our movement work on the streets and online. We have been regularly gathering, recording, and producing audio and video since November 2023. In February we held our first live event.. You can follow us on Instagram, Soundcloud, and YouTube.

Follow Songs for Ceasefire:
* On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/songsforceasefire/
* On Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/songs-for-ceasefire
* On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SongsforCeasefire

Yai dadumbai yo (Yai dadumbai yo)
Ai yadavadai yo (Ai yadavadai yo)
Ai yadavadai yo (Ai yadavadai yo)
Ai yadavadai yo (Ai yadavadai yo)

Ceasefire now (Ceasefire now)
Ceasefire now (Ceasefire now)
Ceasefire now (Ceasefire now)
Ceasefire now (Ceasefire now)

Not in our name (Not in our name)... 

Stop the genocide (Stop the genocide)... 

Let Gaza live (Let Gaza live)... 

Free Palestine (Free Palestine)... 

Ceasefire now (Ceasefire now)... 

If I am not (If I am not)
For myself (For myself)
Then who will be (Then who will be)
For me? (For me?)

But if I am (But if I am)
For me alone (For me alone)
Then what does that (Then what does that)
Make me? (Make me?)

And if not now (And if not now)
Then when (Then when)
Will we declare (Will we declare)
Never again (Never again)

For anyone (For anyone)... 

Ceasefire now (Ceasefire now)... 

***

"Ceasefire Now" (Little Song)

We were the Saturday night entertainment at the Ecosocialism conference in Perth in Western Australia on June 29th, 2024.

Thanks to Alex Bainbridge and friends for making the live recording, and thanks to Chet Gardiner for enhancing the sound after the fact.

01. Failed State

Israeli settlers began a new campaign to steal more of the land from the people of the town of Beita, in the Occupied West Bank, in 2021.  Turkish-American ISM activist, Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, was the 17th protester to be killed by Israeli troops in the town of Beita since 2021.

Aysenur

We sing to stop the genocide. We sing for the martyrs, and for all beloved dead. To remember and honor all who have been killed as a result of the violence of colonization. We sing so that their cries may come through our voices. We sing so that their deaths are not in vain. 

We sing, too, for those who cannot raise their voices against the genocide because they have been submerged into a state of silence, or of dehumanizing fear and hatred, by forces of forgetting, erasure, and lies. This state of silence may be akin to moral death, but there is still hope that we can revive many people from this state. In fact, we life demands that we must. And so we sing.

The Hebrew in this song comes from the biblical book of Psalms.

Lyrics:

לֹ֣א הַ֭מֵּתִים יְהַֽלְלוּ־יָ֑הּ וְ֝לֹ֗א כָּל־יֹרְדֵ֥י דוּמָֽה׃ 
וַאֲנַ֤חְנוּ ׀ נְבָ֘רֵ֤ךְ יָ֗הּ מֵעַתָּ֥ה וְעַד־עוֹלָ֗ם הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ

- Psalm 115:17-18

Lo hameitim y’hal’lu’Yah
V’lo kol yordei dumah
Va’anachunu n’vareich Yah
Mei’atah v’ad olam: Halleluyah

Those who have died cannot raise their cries
Neither can the people sunken deep in silence
So we will sing love for them All
Now and forever, Alhamdulillah الحمد لله

Hallelu, Hallelujah, Alhamdulillah  الحمد لله
Hallelu, Hallelujah, Alhamdulillah  الحمد لله
Hallelu Yah, Alhamdulillah الحمد لله
Hallelu Yah, Alhamdulillah الحمد لله

Chords: Am / G / Em / D /

Song for the Dead and the Silent
by Adam Gottlieb
Vocals, guitar, percussion and mix by Adam Gottlieb
Additional vocals by Caro Granner, Eli Newell, Ultra-Violet Archer, and one other (anonymous for safety concerns).
recorded at StarRise Studios on Odawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi land.

Artwork by Liz Bajjalieh

Song for the Dead and Silent (Alhamdulillah)

I'm not much for playing Charades, so I never actually got around to voting in an election until Ralph Nader ran for president in 2000.  I also sang at various events with him, and at the Green Party national convention around that time, and at the last Green Party national convention online, and many other Green Party events in between.  

I've also voted for lots of Greens over the years since I started voting more consistently, here in Oregon, where you're automatically registered to vote when you get a state ID or driver's license, the ballots arrive in the mail, making it all extremely easy, even for an anarchist to bother with.

I wrote this song, "Jill Stein," in 2016.  I never got around to making a good recording of the song, but after seeing some particularly offensive posts about Jill on social media, I felt inspired to make a better recording of the song, after changing one word in it.  See if you can guess which one!

With concern to the US political system, we can either keep on playing along with the "lesser evil" philosophy and hope to speed towards that proverbial wall more slowly, or we can turn the train around.  Given those options, supporting Jill Stein seems like the right decision to me.  I understand why other people disagree.  It's a hard choice, between the near future and the further-off future.  I've always been one for the long game myself, though I can also be very impatient.

Jill Stein

A psalm of comfort in cataclysmic times. With steadfast faith in the people of the world to liberate ourselves from all forms of oppression, from Gaza to Sudan to Puerto Rico to Chicago.

I first wrote and recorded this in 2020 and released it on my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/adamgottliebandonelove

Psalm 46 (The River)

אֱלֹהִ֣ים לָ֭נוּ מַחֲסֶ֣ה וָעֹ֑ז עֶזְרָ֥ה בְ֝צָר֗וֹת נִמְצָ֥א מְאֹֽד

O Jah, Elohim  
Lanu machaseh va'oz  
Ezra, ezra  
v'tzarot nimtza me'od  

And so, fear not  
Though the Earth may heave and quake  
And though the mountains  
May be swept beneath the waves  

There is a a river whose streams gleam pure  
In the city we're building, where the sacred is secure  
And God is within Her, She will shine at our dawn  
As the nations burst in uproar and Kingdoms fall...    

*

יְהֹוָ֣ה צְבָא֣וֹת עִמָּ֑נוּ מִשְׂגָּֽב־לָ֨נוּ אֱלֹהֵ֖י יַעֲקֹ֣ב סֶֽלָה

Hashem tzva'ot  
Imanu misgav  
Lanu Elohei  
Yaakov selah 

Oh come and see  
All the wonders God has done  
Monsoons, typhoons,  
Earthquakes and revolutions  

Jah makes the wars cease to the ends of the earth  
Disarms the nations, takes the bombs apart, gives us rebirth  
Be still and know Her now within the soul  
See Her exalted on earth from pole to pole...  

What is your cause? Take a moment to pause and give it a thought  
What do you want? If you had a wish / Wizard of Oz /  
If you made the laws? If you ruled the world / Lauryn & Nas /  
Let's have a talk / We can philosophize / Calvin & Hobbes  
Me I'll be honest / for all of my moxie my dreams are modest /  
Playing guitar, walking my dog and being a modern psalmist /  
That'd be my job / no need to profit when you're a prophet, naw mean?  
And no living costs, I want it all for free like Santa Claus / Stop it!  
Hold the applause / maybe you're not convinced, like "whatever commie"  
What are the odds? How bout the flaws in all of our lost economies?  
What about bosses? What about cops? What about mob psychology?  
Kids behind bars, and all of the scars of worshipping gods of property?  
Real talk / ain't no facade / I really don't mean to be comic /  
But Mr. Oppressor, please tell me just what you and your bombs are guarding?  
You're at the top, and we're at the bottom / you won the game you started /   
But we got the squad / the City of God is ours / you lost it / Jah Bless!   

There is a a river whose streams gleam pure  
In the City we're building, where the sacred is secure  
And God is within Her, She will shine at our dawn  
As the nations burst in uproar and Kingdoms fall...   

Psalm 46 (The River)

https://soundcloud.com/michael-gonzalez-50
https://soundcloud.com/ariya-hawkins

I wake up to see myself on a grave stone,
I got grey bones,
a heart of stone,
that doesn’t beat on its own,
i got a open mouth with no vocal output
my silence is a yell,
And if ever manage to hear what it truly capture
the demons of supremacy might rapture my soul texture 
that tries to touch on world piece 
to be torn to pieces
and i can’t exist on anything 
sorta dead,  eradicated invalidated,
by the powers that be
I’m turning sour lately 
non binary
 body trying to love itself


benefit grief or release
illuminating illusion relief 
accumulating confusion i see
who to be 
or 
what comes to me
liberation might just be free
visitation does come to me
death is walking  right on beat

when i close my eye’
and it goes to dark 
and it goes dark
it goes to black
and I’m black 
it all goes dark when i close my eyes
when i close my eye’
and I’m black
when it goes white 
when it goes white 

when i close my eye’


colonial, trauma
conscious matrix maybe monster 
i have a drowning slave’s wonders

black body,
sexually mutilated 


supposedly outdated 

disposable shaken


most of me taking


most of me forgotten 

birthplace for life
but I’m rotten
underattack 
black body

oh no 
oh no
oh no 
oh no 
oh no 
oh no


can hear me

oh no 
oh no
oh no 
oh no 
oh no 
oh no
 

12 As2Water Hurricanes (ft. Ariya Hawkins, Michael Gonzales) Prod.Kain Gonzales

Negro Spiritual reinterpreted by Koach Baruch Frazier

Be With Me by Koach Baruch Frazier

Adam Gottlieb is a musician, poet, and cultural worker from Chicago. He is the leader of the Fusion band Adam Gottlieb and OneLove. Adam serves as a cantorial soloist for Tzedek Chicago, an international justice-based synagogue based in Chicago, IL, and is a founder of the Songs for Ceasefire project.

Adam Gottlieb & OneLove are a Chicago-based Fusion band serving songs for the revolution since 2014. They are ordinary people fighting for survival, justice, and abundance for all, delivering upbeat music that blends Reggae, Blues, Folk, Rock, Funk, Hip Hop, Latin, and more. Their 2020 album “All of You” was nominated for “Best Local Album” in the Chicago Reader’s Best of Chicago awards. In 2022 they performed live at South by Southwest at the AEMMP Records Showcase.

Psalm 46 (The River)

Adam Gottlieb (& OneLove)

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